The entrance wasn't made of stone or iron - it was alive. A shifting arch of light and symbols that shimmered like water under moonlight.
Lyra stepped forward first, but the moment she did, the symbols rearranged, spelling something only she could see. She froze.
"What is it?" Kael asked, his hand on his sword.
"It's… a question," she muttered. "About my past."
Miri touched the side of the gate. Her fingers recoiled as the light pulsed and reshaped. "They're not just questions," she said quietly. "They're choices. Regrets."
Eren stepped forward, and the gate welcomed him with a hum. A series of puzzle-like riddles hovered in the air - floating fragments of memory, emotion, and truth. To pass, they each had to give something real. Not blood. Not coin.
Honesty.
Kael's challenge was a face from long ago — someone he couldn't save. His jaw clenched, eyes haunted, but he spoke the name aloud.
Miri's was a vow she broke, whispered into the wind.
Lyra's… no one knew what hers was. She didn't speak after, only looked at Eren differently.
When it was Eren's turn, the light formed into the shape of a younger boy - scared, alone, hiding a glowing hand beneath a blanket. The gate asked no question. It simply waited.
"I'm not ready," Eren whispered.
And still, the gate opened.
Inside, the air smelled of dust and magic. And for the first time, they understood:
The Library didn't guard knowledge.
It judged who was worthy of it.
——-
They found it in a chamber that felt more like a memory than a room - walls lined with shelves of crumbling parchment and whispering air, like the scrolls were still telling stories in hushed voices.
No traps. No locks.
Just a single scroll resting on a stone pedestal, as if it had been waiting.
Eren approached carefully. "This is it?" he asked, barely above a whisper.
Miri nodded. "Old tongue. Spellbound language. Few left who can read it."
Kael stood watch near the entrance, uneasy. "Feels too easy."
"It's not," Lyra murmured. "This room is listening."
As Eren touched the scroll, a soft pulse ran through the floor. The ink shimmered, rearranging itself in patterns that seemed to recognize him. And then he heard it - not aloud, but deep in his chest:
A voice. His blood answering an ancient call.
The scroll burned for a moment in his hands, then cooled - like a heartbeat steadied.
"I don't know what it says," Eren said.
"But it knows you," Miri replied. "That's the first spell - recognition."
"Can you translate it?" Lyra asked.
"Not yet," Miri said. "We'll need the others. This is just one thread of a bigger weave."
They wrapped the scroll carefully, storing it in a satchel lined with cloth. As they turned to leave, none of them noticed the faint symbol glowing on the wall behind them - a mark of the Spellbound, now awakened once more.
———
They barely had time to catch their breath before the horns sounded.
Kael froze at the echo. "That's not a warning. That's a hunt."
Royal banners cut through the trees like bloodied teeth - too many for a fair fight. Miri cursed under her breath, grabbing her satchel. "They've been tracking us since the last village."
Lyra grabbed Eren's arm. "We move. Now."
Eren hesitated, eyes drifting back toward the path they'd carved into the forest - toward the Library, the scroll, the weight of history pressed against his ribs. "We can't let them get it."
"They won't," Kael growled, already pulling out his blade. "But neither will we, if we die here."
They ran.
Branches clawed at them, roots reached like hands trying to trip them. Behind, the shouts of soldiers cut through the trees, closer with every step. Miri stopped only once - to scatter a pouch of herbs into the air. A thick smoke spread behind them, curling through the trees like mist with teeth.
"Won't last long," she warned. "It'll buy us minutes. Maybe."
They ducked into a ravine, mud slick underfoot, hearts pounding. Eren stumbled, and Lyra yanked him up before he hit the ground.
"We need to split up," Kael said. "Draw them off. Regroup near the river. Hour from now."
Nobody liked it — but nobody argued.
As they scattered into the woods, the sound of the soldiers' boots grew fainter, swallowed by smoke and distance. But the feeling remained - a cold weight in Eren's gut.
They weren't running anymore.
They were being hunted.
——-
The ground was burning.
Not with fire - but with light. Blinding, ancient, and raw. The kind of magic that made the air shudder and the birds stop singing.
"Eren, don't!" Miri's voice cracked as she stumbled toward him. "That spell - it's not finished. It's not safe!"
They were cornered. The soldiers had circled back quicker than anyone expected, cutting off every escape. Kael was already bleeding. Lyra was out of blades. And Miri… Miri had nothing left but bandages and fury.
Eren stood at the center of the chaos, breath shaking, hands aglow. The scroll pulsed at his side - whispering in a language only his bones understood. The spell had no name. Just pain. Just power.
He looked at them - Lyra, bruised but still defiant; Kael, sword in hand even as his knees buckled; Miri, torn between fear and faith - and he knew there was no other way.
"I can hold them," he said, mostly to himself. "I have to."
Then he raised his hands and let it go.
The world bent.
Light shattered like glass. The ground cracked, throwing soldiers off their feet. Trees trembled. The air filled with heat and screaming - not from pain, but from the magic itself, as if the spell was alive and angry to be woken.
And then… silence.
The soldiers were down. Unmoving. Not dead — not quite. Just… still.
Eren dropped to his knees, gasping, eyes wide with something like terror.
Lyra reached him first. "What was that?"
"I don't know," he whispered. "It just came."
Miri knelt beside him, checked his pulse. "You shouldn't be able to cast spells like that. Not without training. Not without years."
"Maybe I shouldn't," Eren said, voice hollow. "But something inside me… remembered."
They didn't press him. Not yet. But as they walked away from the battleground, no one said a word.
Because saving them came at a cost.
And none of them knew what Eren had just awoken.
——-
The forest was too quiet. Not peaceful - quiet in that uneasy, waiting way. Like the world was holding its breath.
They walked without speaking, the weight of Eren's spell still clinging to their clothes like ash. Every few steps, Kael glanced over his shoulder. Miri kept fiddling with the satchel of herbs she hadn't used. Lyra… Lyra just walked ahead, jaw tight, hands in fists.
Eren trailed behind.
He could still feel the spell in his chest. Not warmth - but an ache. A residue. As if some part of it had stayed behind, watching him from the inside.
When they finally stopped for the night, no one moved to build a fire.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Miri asked him gently.
"No," Eren said.
But he did. He wanted to scream about it. How it felt like the magic wasn't his - like it had used him. How, for a moment, he hadn't been afraid of the soldiers - but of himself.
"Magic like that," Kael muttered, breaking the silence, "was buried for a reason."
Lyra sat down across from Eren. "You saved us," she said, but her voice was brittle. "But if you'd lost control…"
"I did lose control."
They all fell quiet again. The kind of quiet that builds a wall between people.
Finally, Miri said, "Magic isn't the enemy. But it changes people. Makes them think they're gods."
"I'm not a god," Eren said, staring at his hands. "I'm scared."
That was the first honest thing he'd said all day.
They didn't comfort him. Not because they didn't care - but because they didn't know how. Magic had saved them. But magic had also burned down their homes, destroyed their families, turned the king into a tyrant.
The truth was… they weren't afraid of Eren.
They were afraid for him.
And for what this magic might make him become.
•
•
•
P.S. – If you're enjoying the story…
Don't forget to drop a Power Stone! ✨
Each one helps The Last Spellbound reach more readers, climb the ranks, and keep the magic alive.
Your support means everything—and it tells me you're ready for the next twist in Eren's journey.
Let's see how far this legacy can go… together. 💙